Cheap projector repair

[Ryan] sent in this writeup on some DIY projector repair. The write-up is a little hard to follow, but maybe it’ll inspire some future projector landfill saves. [Dissident] replaced the light bulb and ballast in an older DLP projector with some salvaged MR-16 hardware from an even older over head projector. The main trick required was to bridge the trigger leads that tell the projector that the bulb is on and working.

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26 thoughts on “Cheap projector repair”

Quite interesting… though the key to a good projector bulb is it’s ability to produce a natural white light. Overhead projectors aren’t much on quality and usually just throw uneven dingy yellow shades and a nice big hot spot in the center.

While this is quite interesting in terms of getting an otherwise junk pj back up and running for cheap money, I’d be interesting in seeing a slightly higher quality solution where the bulb has good color accuracy and no hot-spots, even at $40 or $50 a DIY bulb with white levels and even light output would be a fantastic alternative to the $400-$600 replacement bulb.

I’ve done this before, and I’ll tell you the result was disappointing to say the least.

I used a standard 240 volt (UK) spotlight bulb, but the problem is unless the light coming out of the bulb is exactly parallel, it won’t pass all the way through the projector, so since my bulbs “viewing angle” was ~30 degrees I estimate only about a quarter of the light output of the bulb got to the LCD’s, and even less to the screen.

Interestingly, color was off to start with, but a few color profiles soon sorted that (adobe gamma utility etc.), and hotspots aren’t a problem because the projector had a lens that looked like frosted glass, the purpose to evenly spread light across the screen. In fact it wasn’t even possible to get one part of the screen brighter than the rest!

will this mod work on other projectors ?? ive a Toshiba TLP410 and bulb asembly is practically the same also what is the bulb mounted into on your photo ?? this sure would save me some money my last bulb was nearly Â£200

You might be interested to know that for about £8 / $16, you
can buy such things as 100w 12v, 150w, 15v and 250v 24v
lamps that are the same size as the MR16 lamps. They are
used for disco lighting – lifespan is not so good – at
between 50 and 300 hours – but with an average of around
100 hours for £8 / $16, you can at least afford to keep a
spare. Google for A1 232 for the 15v 150w unit – or just
google for: projector lamp A1 259 – 250w 24v and in a
500hr flavour too.

Very good colour rendering due to high temp burn and
inexpensive into the bargain.

Hey don’t know your name but thanks for the LumenArc link. I bought a bulb from them and managed to relamp my lamp for the fraction of the cost for my Marantz Projector. Bit fiddly at first but hey done it. I’m surprised they use the same bulb for different projectors and the prices vary as much as a few hundred pounds just because it is a marantz projector.

Uh uh, no you can’t. You have a ballast which has an initial voltage of over 5KV going through it. It is only once the lamp is lit it drops to about 70-90V. What you have to understand is the projector bulbs do not have a filament like that of filament type bulbs. Instead they have an air gap which is where the arc forms and kept lit by aplying continous voltage. I’ve used a bulb from http://www.lumenarc.co.uk (thanks to the above anonymous) and it is really quite simple to replace. On top it works out cheaper when you compare it with price per hour. These bulbs last 2000 hours compared to the 200 hour life of the osram. Besides, X1 is a DLP projector, the light source is not point on the osram so it will be difficult to get all the light inside the light tunnel. Any further queries, post on the LumenArc forum. I’ve registered there so will be glad to help.

GoldMemember, took your advice and risked buying a bulb from LumenArc. After much fiddling, got the alignmnent spot. Now I have a projector which has over 2000 Hours on the lamp and all I spent was under £68. What a bargain. That sort of price, I can afford to max it up during the world cup season.

Ok, I dig the Lumenarc bulbs for 60 bucks and I am looking at my 350w MH bulb in its glass reflector. I see some white dry hard putty like substance that seems to hold the bulb center to the mirror. How do I take that stuff out and replace it? What is it?

I am able to poke it and break it up some with an exacto knife, but I wonder how you all solved this problem. My projector is a Sharp XG-E100U and the grandkids are on their way to watch movies.

@cbrotherton – more likey your lamp has blown.
@NOMAN NASEER – NSH is a high voltage ignition bulb. Cheap option would be a burner replacement from lumenarc. You should be able to fit a 200W DC High Voltage Ignition burner in yours.
@DrDos – relampit is t#one alternative if you are not DIY competant. However, with their prices for relamping, you could just add a few bob and just buy a new lamp from LumenArc. Their prices are the lowest I can see as of yet. Just drop them an email and see if they can tell you what bulb you require. The white stuff you are talking about is heat resistant mortar. ou can scrape it off and replace it with furnace non-gritty mortar.

i have hitachi cx-320 multimedia projector its lamp bulb is fused please tell me any cheap solution so i can repair my projector ,is lamp specs are 77Volts and 160watts,
please guide be ,waiting for fast response,

Dear kashif best cheep solution for you Hitachi projector is to replace the lamp burner only.llamp the is hscr 165w 77volt Ac typr .but it is a little garde to calibrate and Aline the focus and light focal lenth. If you are a electronic technician you can do it easily with 2 or 3 tries.but should have good life lamp burnet(tube).